Andy Black Guitarist Lonny Eagleton Plays His Favorite Riffs
There are a lot of guitar gods you can look up to, especially if you were growing up in the '90s and 2000s. But for Andy Black guitarist Lonny Eagleton, his influences date a bit earlier. On this edition of Gear Factor, Eagleton reflects on his entry into music and the guitarists and riffs that made a lasting impact on him.
"The first rock music that inspired me to play guitar was when I heard AC/DC for the first time. I remember being on a drive with my dad and he put on the AC/DC live album and I heard the 'Highway to Hell' riff and that was it for me," says Eagleton, who also counts "Back in Black" and "Thunderstruck" among his top riffs.
But while AC/DC may have been his entry point, Led Zeppelin and in particular, Jimmy Page, ranks as his biggest inspiration. "A big one for me was 'Heartbreaker,'" says the guitarist. "My No. 1 guitarist was always Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin. And to this day he still is too. I just loved the imagery of that band and how they have such a vast array of styles, anything from acoustic music all the way to hard rock electric stuff and anywhere in between. I love the versatility. Jimmy Page, being the main producer behind the records, one of the songwriters and a great guitarist, he's always been my favorite."
Eagleton says that his top piece of advice for aspiring musicians is to play every day, even if it's just for 5 to 10 minutes, in order to be continuously in the mindset and to see gradual improvement. "All these riffs, they just spoke to me, and I found it so cool when I started playing that I could create the sounds that I had heard on the radio or heard on CDs and make the riffs myself out of thin air and not have to hit play on the stereo to do it."
These days, PRS is his guitar brand of choice. "For me, they're just the ultimate guitar. I remember being in music stores as a kid and I was always just drawn to them because, quite frankly, they look better than any other guitar. The top looks so wonderful, and the bird inlays, you can't beat that. Also, my last name is Eagleton, so I thought the bird inlays made a lot of sense, and the whammy bars are just so smooth."
As for his current gig with Andy Black, the guitarist says, "I actually was a fan of his before I started playing with him. I heard all the songs hundreds of times and then to be playing it live is such a great honor. It's something I don't take lightly." While he's a fan of Black's catalog so far, he did rock a little of "We Don't Have to Dance" and showed a bit of his shredding skills he gets to display with the Black Veil Brides singer's solo project.
You can catch Eagleton onstage with Andy Black at these shows.
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